Titans Drop Close One in Exhibition Play

FULLERTON, Calif.—Cal State Fullerton at one point owned a 2-0 lead vs. a professional Los Angeles Blues club, but could not hold the advantage, as the Blues rallied to defeat the Titans by the final of 3-2 in exhibition play Tuesday morning at Titan Stadium.

"It was a good performance by the group today," said head coach Bob Ammann. "We are very thin numbers wise and with the addition of an injury that kept Ian Ramos from playing, it didn't give us any options when players got tired."

"We gave a professional team one week from the start of its season all it could handle. The game was another great opportunity for us to get better. The players were obviously stressed during the later stages of the match and this experience will serve us well moving forward."

For the second consecutive week, Fullerton raced out to quick start and jumped out to a sudden 1-0 advantage after Jesse Vega headed in a ball, which was set up by Jordan Wolff.

It wouldn't be long before the Titans struck again, as Ritchie Gonzalez was able to put the ball in the back of the net, after Colin Okirie kept the ball alive, thanks to a perfectly placed set up by Spencer Johnson, which forced the keeper to come off the line.

With the score already at 2-0, the momentum continued to mount for the Titans after keeper Adam Zepeda was able to take away a sure scoring chance for Los Angeles, as he saved a penalty kick that was awarded to the Blues after an aggressive challenge by Vega.

The Titans took an encouraging 2-0 lead into intermission, but the Blues took advantage of their deep bench late in the game, and finally broke through with their first goal of the match near the 65-minute mark.

Fatigue eventually set in for the Titans, who once again chose to play without their seniors from last fall, as the Blues struck for two more goals late to take home the win.

The Titans now look ahead to March 22, where they'll wrap up their spring schedule with an exhibition game at UNLV at 5:00 p.m.